Valparaiso Magazine Fall 2021

VALPARAISO ROTARY CLUB
Valparaiso
Club
By Doug Ross
he Valparaiso Rotary Club’s 100th anniversary
will be easy to remember because of the large
gates at the entrance to the Rotary Library
Garden across from Valparaiso
Public Library.
The club gave $110,000 to the project but
didn’t have to dig deep into its treasury for it.
Individual members came up with $95,000
of the project’s cost, according to 22-year
member Doug Mogck, who served as
project chair.
The project celebrates three major areas
of focus for the club – literacy, community
development and environment, he said.
Rotary International, founded in Chicago,
has been working for decades to eradicate
polio. It is now endemic only in Afghanistan
and Pakistan.
Mogck said when he went to a President-Elect
Training Seminar, “that was an amazing time.
It really opened my eyes to what Rotary does
worldwide.”
Deb Good heard about a trip to India to
vaccinate people against polio and was
inspired to take a team to India. “The nice
thing about the polio vaccine is you don’t stick,
you just put the drops in the mouth,” she said.
Sharon Kish remembers when an international
grant helped Rotarians from Turkey visit
Opportunity Enterprises, where they
were amazed at the services provided for
developmentally disabled individuals.
Gus Olympidis said as much as members
undertake individual projects and accomplish
great things for the community and the
world, none of those is the greatest Rotary
achievement. Put them all together, and in
aggregate you see the collective impact,
which is “creating a magical place.”
“You essentially see the architecture, the
mosaic of an exceptional community,”
Olympidis said. “This is a very unique
community in a very significant way.”
Other members recall their own local Rotary
memories.
“Rotary has always been a part of my life,”
Byron Smith said. His father was in Rotary,
so every Monday at dinner the Smith family
learned about what happened in Rotary that
day. “It turns out my grandfather was a charter
member of the Valparaiso Rotary Club,”
Smith said.
When Smith was asked to join in 1972, “it just
seemed like a natural thing to do.”
Mary Joe Jaime’s first service project wasn’t
that big. It was building a fence right here
in town for Hilltop House. The project was
initially to paint the fence, but when they >>
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